Harry only realized when he jumped at hearing the buzzer that he had been staring into space for a very long time, thinking about absolutely nothing. He looked around his surroundings, trying to figure out what was going on and why he'd been sitting in a waiting room for who knows how long, spacing out.
As he looked around, he saw quite a few other people sitting in chairs, staring blankly into space. It was beginning to creep him out a bit.
"Harry Potter!" A voice called out to him. He looked around and saw a lady standing at an open door to his left. She was a tall blonde dressed as an office worker. "Come on, Potter. We don't have all day, get the lead out."
"Okay…What's going on here?" Harry asked as he stood up to follow the office worker lady.
As he walked along the hall behind the door he entered, he saw all kinds of motivational posters on the walls. Even though they had the cats in them, the words were a bit different from the ones that Hermione had introduced to him.
'An essential aspect of Creativity is Divinity.'
'Keep Calm and Smite Evil.'
'Life Begins with the Word.'
"Here we are. Go on in, your Reaper is waiting for you." The lady stated.
"My what?" Confused, Harry looked for the office worker lady, but found that she was suddenly not there anymore. Scratching his head, and not seeing any other choice for finding out just what was going on, Harry entered the office.
Once he'd opened the door, he saw a stereotypical office. A large mahogany desk stood front and center, with two visitor chairs in front of it. A filing cabinet and small fridge stood off to the right. And a window was on the left wall. Once Harry looked at the window, he couldn't look away. The scene was so beautiful and enthralling, he just spaced out while gazing on the beauty of the scene. It made him feel so many good things. Love, comfort, family, home, acceptance. Without realizing it, tears were falling down his face.
The snap of the blinds shutting broke Harry's view of the window, allowing his attention to snap to the person next to the blinds covering the window.
"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" The tall red haired man smiled gently at Harry.
"Yes, sir." Harry could only nod in agreement, suddenly realizing that tears had been falling freely from his eyes. He couldn't quite remember what the scene was of, Harry just remembered what it made him feel. He quickly wiped away the tears.
"Potter!"
Harry started, realizing he'd been drifting again, and looked apologetically at the man in front of him. Something about the man convinced Harry that the man was an authority figure, and should be deserving of respect.
"It took me a long time to work my way up to this office with that view. You literally couldn't comprehend how much hard work I've put into it. How long I've had to toil in the cubicles without that view. And I'm telling you right now, I will do just about anything to make sure that I keep my office with a view." The man stared hard at Harry, who gulped in nervousness and nodded his understanding.
"Which is why I'm quite upset with you and the way you've been living your life, Harry."
"What?" Harry was having a hard time putting the two statements together. What did his life have to do with this man's office?
"Sit down. We need to talk." The man gave a very put upon sigh as he gestured to one of the chairs. Tea just the way Harry liked it appeared on the desk in front of him. "Go on. This might take a while."
The red haired man picked up his own cup and sipped while eyeing Harry and evaluating what he was going to say. Harry for his part simply waited. He didn't know why he felt like he was 8 again being called in front of the Principal's office, but he did.
"My name is Elohouken, Harry. I've been assigned your case. You can think of me as a cross between a Guardian Angel and a Grim Reaper. I'm supposed to subtly guide you in life to fulfilling your potential. And in death I'm supposed to see to your placing, based on how you did in life."
"So, I'm dead?" Harry gasped in shock.
Elohouken nodded gravely. "What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
Harry closed his eyes and cast his thoughts back to the last things he remembered. He thought over the past year. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had started their quest to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes in high spirits. They had Professor Dumbledore's mandate and they were sure they could finish the job in only a few weeks.
But those weeks had dragged on into months.
Months of listening over the wireless as every day Voldemort's forces took over more of the Wizarding world. Everyday listening to more sham trials that sent muggleborn to concentration camps and to their deaths.
They barely got any hint of word of opposition to the Death Eaters over the wireless, except for the underground radio program of Potterwatch.
Months where they were starving daily from having so little food and no way to restock. They froze because they didn't have any way to heat their tent, and they didn't have enough winter clothes.
And then Ron let his jealousy rear its ugly head once more and he left them.
Alone with Hermione for weeks as they struggled to come up with any ideas on where to look for the blasted Horcrux.
Obsessing over Godrics Hollow, where his family was buried. Falling into the trap that Voldemort set there, and barely getting away.
Watching as Hermione got thinner and thinner, and more despondent because Ron wasn't there.
Then Ron found them months after the New Year, just in time to save Harry when he found the Gryffindor sword at the bottom of the pond and was so close to drowning.
Then, they were captured. Tortured at Malfoy manor.
They escaped with Dobby's help, which ended in Dobby sacrificing himself for Harry.
The evidence they found that Bellatrix had a Horcrux in her vault.
The planning for the break in, stealing the Hufflepuff Cup.
Breaking out on the back of the old blind dragon.
Going to Hogwarts.
Finding the Tiara Horcrux. Escaping from the Fiendfyre.
Then, Voldemort brought his armies. And the ultimatum.
"Riddle found out I was at Hogwarts." Harry opened his eyes. "He brought all of his followers to make sure to catch me. Everyone on our side got word it was happening." Harry's eyes were unfocused as he pictured everything that happened.
The gathering of wizards and witches at Hogwarts.
The chaos of frantic combat.
The deaths of people he cared about.
The ultimatum. Give himself up, or they would all die.
Finding Snape and learning from his memories that Harry was a Horcrux and had to die so Voldemort could be defeated.
"After fighting for a while, Riddle pulled back his forces and gave an ultimatum. If I didn't present myself to him, he would kill everyone. But if I gave myself up, he'd spare those left." Harry softly said, as he remembered walking alone out into the forest and taking another death curse to the face.
"And you believed him." Elohouken scoffed. "What makes you think that Riddle would have kept his word?" Seeing Harry looking at him wide eyed in shock and horror, he waved at Harry to continue.
"But…" Harry slumped in shock as he realized there was no way that Riddle would have kept that promise. Not when he had already won.
"When I found out from Dumbledore through Snape's memory that I was a Horcrux, I knew what I had to do. Riddle was immortal as long as I lived. So I walked out to the forest to die so he could be defeated." Harry mumbled. "After he was mortal, someone could have taken him out."
"Dumbledore had you properly brainwashed all right." Elohouken sighed, shaking his head.
"What do you mean by that?!" Harry asked aggressively, ready to jump to Dumbledore's defense at a moment's notice.
"Harry, I need you to think properly about some questions I'm going to ask. Think you can do that?" Elohouken seemingly diverted the topic of conversation.
Harry glared at him for a moment, suspicious of his motives after insulting Dumbledore. "Fine." Harry eventually agreed.
"Harry, do you think Dumbledore was perfect? Do you think he never made any mistakes? Maybe he had no regrets in life?"
Harry's mind automatically started tallying different times he personally had seen Dumbledore expressing regrets for having made mistakes with regard to how he treated Harry. Or when Dumbledore had seemed pressed down upon because of events he couldn't control.
The way that Dumbledore acted and treated Harry his fifth year, which culminated in Sirius' death. He remembered how Dumbledore told Harry about the prophecy less than an hour after Sirius' death, and when he still didn't know if Hermione was okay, and the rest of his friends too. And then how that summer he was packed off to his relatives and once more kept in the dark. His friends weren't allowed to write him, not even to keep in touch.
Harry remembered even further back how he was entered in the Tri-wizard tournament, even though Dumbledore was supposed to keep anyone who wasn't of age out of it. How Dumbledore told him he couldn't help him get out of the tournament.
Then Harry suddenly realized that there had been a few teachers that Dumbledore let teach at Hogwarts that had been trying to actively kill Harry. Quirrel with Voldemort on the back of his head, and Barty Crouch jr. were just two examples. Then there was how Umbridge had been allowed to run rampant at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore had seemed powerless to do anything about it.
There were many other cases where Dumbledore hadn't been perfect. Or didn't have the power to make things right. And Harry remembered the few times where it looked like Dumbledore had felt like the weight of the world was on his back.
"No, Dumbledore wasn't perfect." Harry voiced his realization out loud. "He made mistakes. But he was always trying to do the best he could. And he was a great man." Harry mechanically echoed the words that Hagrid had once said about the Headmaster, still trying to defend the man, even though he knew Dumbledore wasn't perfect.
"Albus Dumbledore tried to be a good man. But he made mistakes. One of those mistakes he made when he wasn't much older than you are now. His mistake to trust a certain friend led to the death of his dear sister. And throughout his life, he carried the guilt for that mistake. His biggest search in life was for redemption for his own mistake in his youth. But despite how much he tried, he could never quite believe himself forgiven or redeemed."
"So he tried to apply his biggest desire, to be redeemed, to how he approached everything in life. He spent his time trying to redeem all those he saw as walking in the dark. He hoped that by redeeming those dark wizards and witches, then he could find redemption for himself."
"But you see, that's where he failed in so many ways. He never understood that the concept of redemption is not something you can help others with, especially because no one in life is perfect. It is a solo quest, one that someone has to seek out to find for themselves."
"And in his life, Albus Dumbledore took on specific roles of authority in society. When you take up those roles, you gain a certain amount of responsibility and duties. You are then judged based on how you fulfill those roles."
"As a professor or the Headmaster of Hogwarts, his job wasn't to try to redeem his "dark" students. His job was to educate children and young adults. To provide the best environment for educating his students that he could." Elohouken explained. "Instead he used the job like it was a tool for him to advance his agenda. Severus Snape is one example of Albus Dumbledore not fulfilling his duties as Headmaster. After it was obvious that Severus Snape wasn't able to teach properly or treat the students equally, he should never have been kept on as a professor when it was obvious that he couldn't do the job. He sabotaged many student's education because he wanted to reward his spy, and he ignored a lot of complaints he shouldn't have to keep his spy where he wanted him."
"As the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, his job wasn't to redeem dark wizards and give them second chances. His job was to administer the laws of the land, and protect the innocent members of society. He failed that by allowing those who were guilty to go free with a few bribes, thus leaving Voldemort with many supporters free to rejoin him."
"So you see, his philosophy of redemption affected everything he did and caused him to fail to fulfill the responsibilities he took on."
Elohouken paused to let Harry think the matter over. For Harry, it was difficult not to automatically come to Dumbledore's defense any time someone said something negative about him. Maybe there was something to what Elohouken said about being brainwashed…
Frowning in thought, Harry realized that a lot of the things that happened at school really did negatively impact their studies. Even just allowing Malfoy to go around bullying everyone because Snape protected him constantly disrupted their ability to study. And back in sixth year Dumbledore had known that Malfoy was trying to assassinate him and did nothing about it! Katie had been cursed by that necklace, and Ron had been poisoned because of Malfoy. Those two had almost died because Dumbledore kept trying to redeem Malfoy.
And what was the result? Malfoy kept joining up and helping the damned Death Eaters!
"I want you to think about this: What was the result on the wizarding world when Dumbledore died so suddenly, and at the hands of Snape, someone he always claimed to have his full trust?" Elohouken's voice interrupted Harry's thought process.
Harry spent some time thinking back to the end of his sixth year and how everyone reacted. It was like there was no hope among the Wizards and Witches. With Dumbledore gone, it felt like only a matter of time before Voldemort took over. And in the subsequent year, it was proved true. The Ministry fell with almost no effort.
"By that point, everyone knew Voldemort was back. They felt like there was no hope of winning against him after Dumbledore died. The ministry fell not even a couple months later. No one was even trying to fight back in any meaningful way." Harry realized.
Elohouken nodded in agreement. "Despite what you think about your title, The Boy-Who-Lived, you were a rallying point, a beacon of hope for the people of the wizarding world. What do you think would have been the reaction of those who were fighting against Voldemort there at Hogwarts at the end when he announced that you were dead. That you had given yourself up to him without even fighting?"
As Harry thought about it, he grew pale. The way he walked to his death was eerily similar to how Dumbledore just stood there and let himself be cursed by Snape. "Everyone would have lost hope. If the Boy-Who-Lived didn't even fight, then what chance did they have to win?" Harry whispered, imagining all the horrors that Voldemort and his followers would have done to his friends and loved ones after he won. It wouldn't even matter that Voldemort was mortal by then, everyone would have lost all hope of fighting back.
"And that's why I said that Dumbledore had you properly brainwashed. Even after all the horrible things the Death Eaters were doing, even when you were on the ropes, on the verge of losing, you never truly fought back to win. You still followed Dumbledore's philosophy of trying to redeem the enemy who was trying to kill you. You kept using stunners and disarming spells. You even gave up and let yourself be killed without a fight, just like Dumbledore's Martyr example to you. Dumbledore was already dying due to the curse on his hand. But before going out, he showed you how to be a proper martyr, while trying to redeem Malfoy once more. It seems his final lesson stuck a bit too much."
Harry was feeling sick at the thought that Dumbledore had basically programmed him to die, while at the same time doing everything he could to redeem Malfoy and keep him alive.
Why was Dumbledore always trying to save the enemy, while their own people kept being killed? Dumbledore was happy to send Harry to his death, but struggled so much to keep a bigot and killer like Malfoy alive. Why?
"Why didn't you try to sneak up with your invisibility cloak and kill Riddle from ambush? Even if you failed in your effort, at least you still had a better chance of winning than taking a curse to the face."
"Why did you think you had to destroy all the Horcrux before you could do anything to Riddle? When you were a baby and Riddle lost his body, he was gone for over a decade before he came back. He had Horcruxes then, and it gave the world over a decade of peace when his body was destroyed. Why not destroy his body once more? That would have given you at least another decade to find the Horcrux?"
"And even if you never directly fought Riddle, you could have done something about his Deatheaters. Without his army, Riddle wouldn't have nearly as much of an impact on the Wizarding world as he did."
Harry's mind was reeling with all the questions and doubts. Why hadn't they fought the war in a smarter manner? So many people had been packed off to the camps, to be killed like animals. So many people tortured and killed while he was on that bloody useless scavenger hunt, doing nothing. Why didn't he do things differently? Why did he follow Dumbledore's plan and run around trying to find the Horcrux? Why didn't he act more decisively and directly?
"Why are you even bringing all this up now? I'm dead." Harry flatly said. "It's not like I can do anything about it now."
A smile grew on Elohouken's face. "A very good and pertinent question. Normally when people pass away, that is the end of their mortal life. But you Harry? You had a prophecy, and you had a destiny. The destiny was slightly different from what the prophecy proclaimed, but it was decided that your destiny must come to pass. Don't ask me why, that is information that I'm not even privileged with at my level. But as a result, every time you've died in your misadventures, you've been given another chance to go back and do it right. To date, you have been sent back six times so far."
"But, how come I don't remember it?" Harry plaintively asked. He was feeling a bit put upon. Having some destiny that he had to fulfill, but apparently not given any help to do so.
"Stupid rules, mostly. They try to get away with as little meddling as possible. Silly, really. It's something that I've been quite against. If you don't know what you're doing wrong, how can you change? My personal philosophy is 'Why settle for a nudge when a good hard shove will make sure the job is done?' Or something along those lines. I'm not usually allowed the shove, due to rules. Well, now that you're facing your seventh death, the rules change a bit, and I get some more leeway to apply that shove."
"Now, since this is your seventh death, it's your last chance. The last time you'll get to be sent back to get it right. If you die again before fulfilling your destiny, you lose. And if you lose, so do all your friends and family. More importantly, if you fail, I lose my office with the view." Elohouken gestured at the window. "And I am not about to let your failure lose everything I worked so hard for." He sternly growled.
"It is an amazing view." Harry wistfully said while staring at the curtained window.
"Indeed." Elohouken nodded with a wistful look on his face too, before snapping out of it.
"First of all I'll give you the broad strokes of your destiny so you know how bad things had been twisted away from what they were supposed to be." Elohouken briskly stated. "First off, you were supposed to be raised by your Godfather and his Werewolf friend. They would have raised you with plenty of self confidence, knowledge of magic, and political connections. There would have been a generous dollop of compassion for the downtrodden in your raising so that you would have been open to making friends from all walks of life. With your background, attitude, and power, it would have been much harder for Voldemort to gather forces once he did manage to come back."
Harry scowled at hearing how he should never have been sent to the Dursleys, and that Sirius should have been free all that time. He would also have had Remus as an uncle, and learned lots growing up.
"Then you would have gone to Hogwarts, met your soulmate-"
"Ginny." Harry whispered.
"What? No!" Elohouken exclaimed loudly. "No no no. Your soul mate was some Granger girl, not some ginger girl." He snorted in laughter. "Can't believe how wrong you got it there. If you had been raised properly with loving parents and siblings, you wouldn't have fallen in with Molly Weasley's idea of one big happy family. When you go back, make a note to practice potions detection charms and don't eat anything without checking it. Even if you personally cooked it, double check it."
Harry gaped for a bit at the information he was given. But as he searched his feelings, he realized it was true. He no longer felt anything for Ginny. Was that the effect of no longer having potions in his system?
He was reminded how he hadn't thought much of her before fifth year, when he all of a suddenly started noticing when Ginny was dating people. And then in sixth year he was feeling really jealous of any male around her. If that was the effect of potions, he really needed to be on his guard. It had been so gradual he hadn't even noticed the change in his attitude when it was happening. Talk about boiling a frog.
Harry then examined his feelings for Hermione. They had their differences, and both had done some things to cheese each other off. But he couldn't imagine his life without her in it. He felt an inordinate amount of affection for her. Even when her bushy hair had been all over the place and she had large front teeth, he thought she was cute.
He then thought about what he felt about her dating other people, like Victor Krum or Ron Weasley. Even the smallest hint of losing her gave him a sinking sensation in his stomach, like he was losing the most precious thing in the world to him. He still wasn't sure exactly what love felt like, but he figured what he felt for Hermione came the closest.
Harry nodded soberly. It wasn't until Elohouken had pointed it out that he had realized how naïve he'd been all his life. How much he didn't understand about people and interacting with them. How he had let so many opportunities pass him by, and been led around by the nose by anyone who cared to manipulate him.
"So with your soulmate locked in by finally kissing her for the first time, your magical knowledge and power growing through hard work and study, and the political connections your name and family brought, you would have absolutely destroyed Riddle, got married, had a lot of sprogs, and died at a respectable 142 years old."
Harry smiled a bit wistfully at hearing that he was destined to have a family and live to enjoy it. He suddenly shook his head in dismay.
"But I'm so far behind Riddle in skill and knowledge? How can I possibly win? Especially without getting so many people killed?"
"Good. I'm glad to see you are finally thinking proactively." Elohouken nodded. "So, I've got a general plan laid out for you. Despite being given the green light for the 'shove' I still have some limits with how far I can go. I can't send you back too far in time. But I can manage to send you back to the summer before your fourth year. You'll get to keep all your memories so you won't be bumbling around so much this time around. Do something about your Godfather. Kiss your soulmate to initiate the bonding. Study hard, and don't let Voldemort gain power again."
"The other thing I can do is gift you with a number of powers as helps. It's not anything I'm directly doing, so it is allowed. Here's a list for you to pick from." Elohouken handed Harry a data pad. It took Harry a few minutes to figure out how to use it with some tips from the Death Reaper, since Harry wasn't familiar with technology.
Harry looked at the document for a bit, before looking up and asking the first question that popped into his mind. "What's a CYOA?"
"It stands for Choose Your Own Adventure. I borrowed those documents from some other department of the Afterlife Placement. They've been playing with the idea of sending people to other realities with some powers bought from those lists so they can make a difference in the world they go to."
"Huh, so I can choose powers from any of these documents?" Harry intently asked, looking at the thousands and thousands of documents that populated the list.
"Yup. Normally you would only get to choose from powers for the world you are in. But, like I said, I don't believe in using a gentle nudge to accomplish something when a wrecking ball will do the job nicely."
Harry looked over the sheer number of documents, and thought back to how Hermione would handle such a situation. That required a lot of reading. He looked back up at Elohouken. "This might take me a while to pick and choose."
Elohouken smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Take your time. The world is paused in time while we discuss matters. It won't start up again until we send you back in time. It'll be like the world record skipped and it'll be 1994 again."
"Oh. Okay." Harry blankly replied. It was almost too good to be true. Once he finally came to terms with the good deal he was being offered, he smiled ferally before turning his attention back to the documents. It felt good that someone in authority finally had his back and was giving him the support he desperately needed.
"So, if some of these drawbacks assign me enemies to get more points to buy stuff, but the enemies don't exist in my world?" Harry eventually asked.
Elohouken smiled gleefully at Harry picking up on that loophole. He wasn't allowed to point out loopholes, but he could confirm them. "Then, unless they have the ability to travel the omniverse, they will just be very angry but unable to do anything about it."
"Cool." Harry grinned back at Elohouken. Harry was starting to like the way his Guardian Angel/Death Reaper did things. Harry dropped his head back down to the documents in front of him while Elohouken started playing solitaire on his computer.
[AN: When I first came across all these Reptilia28 challenge fics I enjoyed them a lot. But the question was always in the back of my mind, "How do they expect him to do any better at the life they keep sending him back to if they never change the circumstances?"
I always felt so incredibly indignant on Harry's behalf 'cause there's these Reapers that are pissed off and biting his head off over something that they did. They erased his memories, ensuring he would never learn any better, and then just chucked him into the deep end.
It's like Obliviating a muggle of any instances of magic they had ever seen and then yelling at them for not taking precautions against wizards.
And even when they do send him back with his memories, rarely do they ever give him any gift packages. Maybe some mind protections so the uber manipulative people all around couldn't read his mind and get more things to manipulate him over. But that's it! They never give him the good stuff!
So, if I ever continued this fic, it wouldn't really be a long one. Cause Harry is gonna get some awesome powers and just steamroller everyone. All so Elohouken can keep his window with a view, lol.
Of course after saying all that, I realize that I should qualify what I've said by mentioning that all those authors that actually have written a full length Reptilia28 challenge are awesome. I enjoy reading their fics, and would love to see more. It's hard to come up with any kind of tension in a story if you give Harry ALL THE POWERZ right from the get go. It would be like playing a video game and entering the cheat code to instantly beat the final boss. Where is the fun in that? You play a game cause you like actually playing the game!]